


Just to Come Back to Her Arms

by Begolaman



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry Allen is The Flash, F/M, Hurt Barry Allen, Iris West Loves Barry Allen, Married Barry Allen/Iris West, Needles, Protective Iris West, Stitches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:33:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29557794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Begolaman/pseuds/Begolaman
Summary: Barry comes home exhausted to Iris's arms.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Iris West
Comments: 8
Kudos: 32





	Just to Come Back to Her Arms

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first fanfic ever, so beware :) I would love to hear your opinions!

She was sitting in their loft, in their couch, with their favorite bottle of wine.

Iris was a sucker for a good red wine in the evening, especially the nights when she really needed even that small amount of alcohol.

This was one of those nights.

Now, it's pretty normal for Barry to speed out of their loft in the evening, only to return several minutes later with a powerful gust of wind that she is so very familiar to. But today, it's already been two hours. Two hours of silence. Two hours of loneliness without her home.

Two hours was rarely a time apart if you looked at their relationship, thinking in the weeks Barry had to go with the league or any other hero and she was left with a cold bed; or that six months that she still shivers remembering. But this was different. This was without warning. It was just a normal robbery that he always runs to tens of thousands of times, just to return to her arms several minutes later. Maybe a little burn out, but still with a soft smile that's only reserved for her.

She debates calling Cisco. There wasn't a big meta of the week nor a big bad (for now) that's about to destroy the world, so he probably wasn't working late in S.T.A.R. Caitlin wasn't an option either, she was too busy with Frost's new hobby in drawing. Knowing that no one was actually in the labs at this hour, she just opts for a message to Cisco instead.

_Any word from Barry? He went two hours ago_.

She didn't need to explain anything further, knowing all those messages they sent to each other. She slowly scrolls to see the similar messages they shared along the years and stops at a recent message that had a similar weight to what she was feeling right now:

_Barry got hurt. He is fine but it was bad. It would be best if you come._

This was when Bloodwork happened. When he took over her husbands body. When he attempted to take away their precious time that was so limited because of the prophecy of his death looming over them. She remember being overly scared and almost jumping at her seat, forgetting all about the article that she was writing about his death. He was hurting, now, and she was supposed to be by his side, help him hurt less anyway she can.

Her phone beeps and she almost drops the glass that's close to empty with blood colored wine.

_No. I'm at home but S.T.A.R. cameras don't show him at the lab. Maybe he's at the time vault? Lmk._

Just as she gets super worried, now that she has confirmation that he is actually missing, she hears a loud bump at the door. It's not a knock, more like a body swaying at the wood.

This time, she really drops the glass to the carpet (which, thank god didn't break) and runs to the door. She can feel her heart beating at her ears with the realisation, _he is hurt._

When she opens the door, she finds the speedster on the floor, with his forehead leaned to their door. When the wood separates from his head, Iris can see his shut eyes and open mouth trying to get in more air. He hasn't even changed his suit. This happened when he was utterly exhausted which only seemed to worry her more.

She falls next to him. He still hasn't opened his eyes, but his head falls onto her neck unconsciously, knowing that she is here. Iris can feel his burning forehead against her neck and his deep breathing that shakes both of them. She slowly uses one of her hands to hold his neck while the other tries to get his body shaking with exhaustion inside. Even though he doesn't want to move, he complies and let her took him inside. This was their apartment but hallway was still open to strangers and everyone could see the speedster with his cowl removed in the Flash suit if they came.

"Hey." He finally speaks between his laboured breaths and she holds him a little tighter. He could talk, that was good.

"Can you stand?" Iris asks, while helping his head to look at her. Even in the dim light that was only coming from the kitchen, she can see how tired he was. His glassy eyes darts a little before they find her. He is still shaking and trying to breathe properly. Sweat shines from the little skin that she can see. Her worry only grows at the sight.

He nods.

She curves a strong arm around his waist to help him up. His shaking legs tries to obey the movement, but it's visible that even the small movement of aligning them takes a tremendous energy. They get up and she guides him to the couch she just got up from, kicking the wine glass a little just so he doesn't step on it.

When they finally arrive, she helps him lay down. He winces with pain and she notices the oozing blood that's coming from his side. Part of her shirt that he was leaning while they were walking is covered with it.

"Oh, Barry."she whispers under her breath. She hates these times. She hates when he is in pain and she can do nothing about it. She just wants to take all of it away, take all of the hurting parts of being this incredible and put it in her shoulders, leaving him only with the joy of running. But she can't do anything about it, she can't do anything even though he is in front of her suffering, and it kills her.

" 'M okay" he manages to say. When her eyes manage to separate from the nasty scar on his body, she finds him watching her. Normally he would do everything he can to avoid her seeing him like this. He would stop by S.T.A.R and patch himself up or even faint on the floor if he had to. But today was one of those unbearable days. He couldn't stop running for an hour and a half, almost as if he was in flashtime. His body still remembers that helplesness, being that fast for half an hour exhausted him more than anything ever did. This time it was much slower, but much longer too. Iris grounded him then, he needed her to ground him now too.

Now she was running around their loft, closing the door, taking the wine glass off the floor, aligning the pillows on a more comfortable position for him and taking out their first-aid kit. He tries to follow her with his eyes, but that action alone turns out to be a hard task, with everything around him spinning the moment he moves his head. Yeah, he definitely had a concussion too.

"Hey, hey" her soft voice and hands cupping his face makes the dizziness go away instantly. He tries to focus on the blurry face in front of him.

"It needs stiches honey. Can you handle it?" She asks, thumbs so cold against his burning skin.

_No he can't. It already burns so much, he can't-_

He nods.

The first needle going in sends a fire through his body. He shakes even more violently. Iris says something, probably around the lines of "It's okay" but he can't hear. He wants to scream, he wants to cry, to just let it out for a moment. But he doesn't. He just tries to sit still and bites his lip.

Around the forth needle going in, his teeth draws out blood. _It's too much_ he thinks. _It's too much, I can't take it, I need it to stop, please, It's too much-_

"Iris stop, stop. I need a break." She immediately stops, noticing the weakness on his voice. She first puts her hand to his rising and falling chest, a simple act that she generally does when she notices him awake late at night. This meant _you can relax honey, we are safe, it's okay._ But it is only to ground him this time.

She sees the tears mixing with the sweat dripping down his face and she sits up, bringing his head to her chest. Her hands slowly goes around his body, finally to stop at his face. She uses her sleeve to wipe his forehead and uses her other hand to scratch his head.

"It's okay," she promises. Her fingers go through his damp hair and she promises again "It's alright. I know it hurts baby."

They sit around like this for several minutes. But she has to keep going. Normally, Caitlin controls these moments with professionalism, she knows when it's time to continue, even though Barry doesn't want to. But Iris is not strong enough to do that. With Barry trembling in her arms, every inch of her just wants to let him rest, let him forget.

But she gets up and finishes the stiches. Even though she hears Barry's breaths get sucked in with every needle, his tears forming again with the only intention of making it stop, his mumblings of begging for the pain to go away, she finishes.

"It's done, it's finished. Let me just help you change." She gets up but his hand finds hers and squeezes it gently. He doesn't have the energy to do that. She understands.

He squeezes his eyes shut when she sits and put his head to her chest again. He just needs her. He just needs to hands around his neck and hair, and her smell of home.

"I'm sorry." He says. Because he already saw her tears too, he knows how much it hurts her to see him like this. He hates to worry her. Normally the pain is easy to mask, just smiling at her or cuddling her back usually does the trick, but today it's too much. She knows it, that's what scares her this much.

"Shhh" she says, her hands not stopping a second. "Just rest." His hands stop shaking, his burning body heat drops because of the ice packs that her wife already put around his body (she probably felt the fever) and his stress of the day melts into her fingertips.

And he does precisely that. He would have taken more hits, he would be ready to face off whatever tomorrow brings; just to come back to her arms.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This is my first ever fanfic, I'm not sure how it turned out. Please let me know how it is!


End file.
